Babies Everywhere

Just thought I'd let everyone know, another Rhodes baby has been born. Ranee and Justin Brokaw (that's our parents' cousin Ed Gingerich's daughter and her husband) had Luke Gibson yesterday in Iowa City. He was seven pounds. Ranee's older sister Julie is due with another in August. Isn't this exciting? Babies are the best. So are cousins.

Mexico wedding

Aunt Ellie asked to hear about the wedding I went to in Mexico, so what Ellie wants, Ellie gets, complete with pictures:

My friend Estefanía from Chihuahua got married last month, and since my friend Korey was driving down, I decided to skip my midterms and go with him. Skipping midterms might not have been the best idea, but it looks like I'll still graduate. And if not, well, the graduation announcements have already been sent, so who's really going to follow up and see if I actually did graduate? Haha! Anyway, it was great to be able to drive down there with Korey. He went to my missionary training school and then taught English with me in Mexico four years ago, and since I hadn't seen him since then it was cool to catch up with him.

He got a little delayed on his way to Colorado, so we ended up driving all through the night to get to the wedding on time. We got to Chihuahua with just enough time for me to get my hair and makeup done -at the insistence of my friend Karina - but unfortunately my hair got a little hacked up by a crazy lady and my makeup was of the hooker persuasion.

Somehow, despite all the time I've spent in Mexico, I've never gotten to go to a wedding there, so I was pretty psyched about finally seeing one. The wedding was pretty similar to an American wedding, except for the processional. All the groomsmen and bridesmaids walked down the aisle together and sat down. Next came the groom, with his parents on either side. Then Estefanía walked down the aisle with both her parents. Everyone stood up and clapped, which I thought was a nice change from just standing up for her.

The ceremony itself wasn't much different from an American ceremony, except that the bride and groom's godparents gave them a Bible to represent Christ being at the center of their marriage. I think because my friends are Protestant they left out a lot of the traditional Mexican elements, which I guess have Catholic roots, like the part where the couple is tied together to represent their unity. (Yeah, they actually put a rope around them. Nothing says love like being tied to your spouse.) The whole wedding was amazing and beautiful, though, and I probably would have cried a little if I weren't so concerned about my hooker makeup running all over my face. The reception was also great, and they even had karaoke. I've gotta do karaoke at my wedding!

The rest of the time I was in Mexico I just hung out with my friends and visited the kids from a soup kitchen I work at every summer. Also, Korey taught me to drive stick-shift, since he had gotten stuck driving the whole way down because I couldn't. He's got a Mustang, so it was pretty thrilling to drive such a cool car on the mean streets of Chihuahua.

Abigail

My little girl is smiling! Thank goodness. It's really hard to catch a picture of her toothless grin because our camera's shutter speed isn't so great. But, we've gotten a couple. The pictures are helpful to look at when she's fussy. Sometimes I think I'll go crazy w/ all her crying during the day. Although, she is already sleeping through the night! She started this soon after her 5th week of life. Last night, she went 8 hours in between feedings, but for the past 3 nights before that, she had been going 9 hours. This is a huge blessing! Thanks to Katie for her advice and encouragement!

The other day, Abigail was sleeping, and I was trying to sleep, and I heard a few loud, bubbly toots. I knew I had to change her since she'd be sleeping an 8 hour stretch. Can't have that diaper rash visit. So, I unwrapped her swaddle, and I see poodoo on the front of her layette! Brilliant Miss Abigail. Groggily (sp?), I take her into her nursery to change her, and I see poop coming out of the top/front of her diaper. What the heck?! Sooo messy.

Other than that, nothing unusual. Just the regular feed, burp, change diaper, wake time, nap routine. She sure is fun . . . when she's not crying.

"Love is a feeling that we don't understand

but we're gonna give it to ya" -I'm From Barcelona

Well I let Jonas know that I'm sorry, I can't be his disciple. But he's ok with it.
"I don't necessarily need anyone for my revolution. I'll be able to do it on my own."

Also, I believe he's bipolar. It's really sad. He gets really depressed sometimes. He'll be laughing and talking away about philosophy for hours, and next moment he's sitting there staring at the ground, unable to speak, with pain and weariness in his eyes.

I can tell he's a lonely, hurting man who has suffered much. And there are millions like him, everywhere we go. I wish there was something that could be done to help them all. But I think the only the thing we are called to do -and can do, for that matter- is love them. Love them, one at a time, love them, and let God work through that.

It makes me chuckle to see how everyone else is writing about having children and graduating from school and being responsible, and I'm here writing about hanging out with crazy people on the streets! I love how different we all are, and that I still fit in with you guys! Thanks for still loving me even when I decide to run away and not care about anything. Don't worry though, I'm almost done with this season. I'm going to go to school in the fall. I plan to transfer to the Denver REI when I get home, and maybe even find a house or apartment to live in. It will be nice to have a place to paint again.

Peace be with you!

Hey Guys!

Well, as most of you have already heard, I am a daddy! It's kinda hard to believe sometimes. All I know is that I feel incredibly blessed and honored to be a dad. Aidan is so beautiful! Ky is doing great! God has really blessed us with him! I hope to have a website up soon so that you can see more pictures of him. If you are on facebook, Ky and I have been updating pictures of him. Love you guys!

Hello Houston, we've got a . . .

. . . Bontrager. Aidan Patrick is his name; he's great; he's beautiful; he's great-grandchild #7 (right?). It's great seeing Josh and Kyleen as parents. Hundreds of pictures available on my facebook, Joshua's, and Kyleen's.
Josh wants to "join" the group of contributors. Please, someone tell me/him how, either by commenting on this blog or e-mailing Josh (bontragerjk@gmail.com) or me (rdbon@sibi.cc).

Cousin Aidan

Your cousin, Aidan Patrick Bontrager, was born this evening in Houston. He weighed 9 pounds; he's 20 inches long. Josh is really excited. Kyleen is doing well. Aidan, my first grandson, was born around 7 this evening.

Here's a wild story:

The other day, Jonas informed me that he is the Christ, and he wants me to be his first disciple. Apparently, he had a vision about me dancing on the hills of Portland, and he believes that I should join him in his revolution. At first I was amused and had to keep myself from laughing at his slightly blasphemous ideas. But I'm always down for a revolution, so I agreed to have coffee with him later and talk about what sorts of things he wants to accomplish here. He's got some pretty good ideas as well.

Also, I got a part time job at REI. I start training on Friday. I'm pretty excited about that.

i can haz photobucket?

got the day off, so i thought i might do this:


grew myself a holiday beard. it's gone now.


me and the li'l lady!


last valentine's day, we gave the young 'uns some anachronistic 'staches!


sorry about the quality, the camera in my mobile phone, she is not so good...

p.s. does anyone want their facebook, myspace, whatevs, added to the "satellite offices" section? let me know!

Lori's Updates

I'll start out by saying that I'm not very efficient w/ blogs, so forgive me if I don't post very many updates, but I'll try to check this blog to get y'all's (!) updates. Please "add me as a friend" on Facebook if you'd like to see more pictures of my beautiful baby girl.

A quick update: Jonathan and I graduated from Harding University in May '06. A few days before we graduated, we got THE cutest puppy. Her name is Sabra, and she is now 2 years old!.

We moved back to Lubbock, TX and bought a house that we have fixed up a lot. I started working as a bookkeeper, and Jonathan worked for Edward Jones a little bit. Soon after, he was offered a job as the Systems Administrator where I worked. So, we got to ride to work together and have our lunches together, too.

About a year after we graduated, we started talking about having a family, and I got pregnant right away. I had a very difficult pregnancy, which forced me to quit my job earlier than we had planned. Since then, I had been doing sporatic freelance editing and helping Jonathan with his side business (Moxie Machine) of building websites and fixing computers. Now, I'm a full time mom.

On Friday, March 7, our daughter Abigail Bontrager Towell came into the world. She's amazing in every way.

I miss you guys tons! Jonathan, Abigail, and I hope to make it to Roswell for Evan's graduation. Anyone else going? Love you all too much!

Evan's Graduation

Hey All,

As most of you know, I am graduating this year from New Mexico Military Institute. Most of you will be recieving invitations, but to the few of you whom I dont have the addresses of, the graduation will be May 10th at approximately 8 or 9 am. Please come and support my two years of hard work. Thanks! I'm looking forward to see all of you!

Hi everyone. This is Ellie (minimom). So fun to read all your news. Here is my news. I will be driving a school bus route next year. I have been an activity bus driver for 5 years. That has been a great experience. Beginning in Aug, I will have to be awake, dressed and out of the house at 7 AM every school day!
That will be quite a change for me!

This is uncle Ron, letting you cousins know that your next little cousin (what is it, first cousin once removed, or second cousin once removed?), Aidan Patrick Bontrager, should be in Joshua's arms on Wednesday, April 9. Kyleen is to check in to the hospital on Tuesday night; she'll receive some medication to help induce her and baby should be born the next day. Bev flies to Houston on Monday and I'll be going Thursday. Please pray for everyone's safety. Check my facebook on Wednesday for photos.

Oh . . . Abby Bontrager Towell (b. March 7, 2008) is doing great. She is beautiful. Most, if they have an opinion, think she looks like Jonathan. Lori is healing from surgery. I think all 3 are doing pretty well.

Enjoy the precious life you've been given.

I'm super thankful that we're doing this and I'm glad to be able to hear about you guys this way. I love you all so much!

Alissa's life is pretty okay right now. I'm living at Mom's. I've been trying to buy a house for about a year and a half now but with my job situation during that time it just hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, I actually like living with my mom and I don't really see a point in paying rent. I started working at a Montessori school in December and am the under teacher in a preschool class. I am currently taking a New Testament class, trying to learn piano, and reading Les Miserables. I guess that's pretty much the skinny on me for now. Most of you probably already know but if you don't, I'm on both mySpace and Facebook and would love to hear from you there as well as here.

"ring, ring," goes the bell

tomorrow at noon i'm going to talk to an air force recruiter. if i had done this five years ago, it would've been a lark; just to take the mickey out of him. but for some reason, it's seemed like a really great idea for the past month or so.

basic training is 6 weeks long, and daniella says she misses me already. she's making however much time elapses between now & then as fun as possible for me. assuming i actually do get in. i know i'm smart and fit enough, but i'm a little long in the tooth, and haven't had any referenceable education in almost 6 years. and that, actually, has played a big part in my decision-- it's nigh impossible to save money for a phoenixlike return to college while raising a family and, like a self-fulfilling prophecy, not having a degree. meanwhile, back at the air force base, you get paid to get educated! and a rather tremendous signing bonus never hurts, either... i am so totally buying a scooter.

so yeah, that's what's going on in the life of andrew robert rusk on wednesday, april 2, 2008 anno domine! what's everybody else up to tomorrow?